A Verdant Tucson

Water Harvesting on a small scale

We are in the heart of the Monsoon Season.   We can tell from the humidity rising, the evaporative coolers not cooling (as well) and the verdant mountains. I mentioned last night at a patio dinner during one of these storms I was writing about verdant Tucson and the table broke out in laughter.   The only response was “Well that’s certainly an oxymoron.

Anyone that turns a radio to NPR has heard this word.   It is a part of the phrase we can all say in our sleep.

“committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.”

If you have never heard this phrase . . .   you can skip to the end.

Verdant is from the latin for green, as in rich vegetation.   Something not often associated with Tucson and the desert.   One thing I get lonely for is the Verdant part of the country where I grew up.

It is the basis for the name of the state Vermont which means the “Green Mountains”

Closer to home to origin of the word is in the spanish verde   again for “green”   as in the palo verde tree.

Here we are in the middle of our verdant seasons, at least as verdant as Tucson gets.

How about a   more just, verdant, and peaceful Tucson.

For those that skipped ahead to the end, this is it.